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Maybe Red Sox Just Aren’t Very Good

David Ortiz of the Red Sox at bat in a 1-0 home loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.Credit
Winslow Townson/Associated Press

BOSTON

The Boston Red Sox will celebrate a century at Fenway Park on Friday when they host the Yankees. The teams will wear vintage uniforms. The Boston Pops will perform the national anthem. Every living person who has played for, coached or managed the Red Sox has been invited, and even some reluctant participants, like the ousted former manager Terry Francona, will be here.

For all that history, though, the current Red Sox would rather not reflect. Their recent history is too bleak. Even an encouraging example from last season, when the team overcame a dreadful start to play well for four months, is no help. Kevin Youkilis, the maligned third baseman, rejected the comparison after a Wednesday loss that dropped the Red Sox to 4-8.

“We don’t look at that,” Youkilis said. “We just go out and play each game. You can’t change the past.”

Youkilis hit his first home run on Wednesday but is batting just .184. He spouted the one-pitch-at-a-time cliché before pivoting to a startlingly modest goal.

“We’re going to have that attitude for the rest of the games,” he said, “and hopefully that will get us going and get us above .500, and then hopefully get more wins than losses.”

More wins than losses? The Red Sox surely expect to win more than just 82 games. But they have to start somewhere, and lately, a simple winning record has been elusive.

After losing five of six on their opening trip, the Red Sox thumped Tampa Bay three times by a combined score of 31-8. But they have fumbled the three games since, one to the Rays and two to the Rangers, and Bobby Valentine’s clubhouse feels just as gloomy as the one Francona left after last season’s epic collapse.

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Since the start of last September, the Red Sox have lost 28 of 39 games. They have given up at least 10 runs three times this season. Their starters have a 6.17 earned run average, the same bloated figure as their relievers.

Mark Melancon, acquired last winter to be the lead setup man, was sent to Class AAA on Wednesday, his E.R.A. a ghastly 49.50. Andrew Bailey, acquired to be the closer, is out until midseason with a thumb injury.

Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury is out with a shoulder injury, and left fielder Carl Crawford is still recovering from wrist surgery. Darnell McDonald, Jason Repko and Cody Ross formed the starting outfield Wednesday against the Texas left-hander Derek Holland. Their combined batting average is .178.

“We just have to figure out a way to be consistent,” said Ross, a former San Francisco Giant. “It’s tough for our pitchers when we’re scoring 14, 15 runs, and then we’ll get shut out and maybe score one run the next couple of nights. But that has a lot to do with the pitching, too. They’re throwing out some really good pitchers.”

Fair enough; in the Rays’ James Shields and the Rangers’ Colby Lewis and Derek Holland, the Red Sox have faced strong pitchers this week. They will face the Yankees’ Ivan Nova, Freddy Garcia and C. C. Sabathia this weekend, with Clay Buchholz, Felix Doubront and Daniel Bard lined up for Boston.

Doubront and Bard have more strikeouts than innings, but neither would be in the rotation if the Red Sox were at full strength. John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka are on the disabled list with elbow injuries, consuming more than $25 million of the payroll.

For all the expectations that come from their recent success, these Red Sox just might not be very good. Boston reached the playoffs in six of seven seasons through 2009, but finished third in the A.L. East in each of the last two. The current team was no match for the Rangers, who remain the league’s strongest.

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Despite their own uneven start, the Yankees offer another test. The sight of their uniform — the 1912 model or the 2012 version — sends a different sort of buzz throughout Fenway.

“Whatever it is, I hope it’s good for us,” Valentine said. “I believe it will be.”

Valentine has been more subdued since questioning Youkilis’s effort in a television interview Sunday, a slight for which he apologized. Normally candid, he now seems inhibited, if not by the Youkilis fallout, then by the stiffness of the setting. The formality of the interview room, the standard place here for pre- and postgame manager briefings, makes Valentine seem caged and reduced to platitudes.

“We’ll get some little things going our way, and we’ll get a nice streak going,” he said after Wednesday’s loss. Asked about the wobbly bullpen, he said: “It’s challenging, but I think we’re O.K. We’re in a good place in the bullpen.”

Deep down, Valentine probably knows better. But these are delicate times for a new manager, with his team undermanned and underperforming, and a fan base always locked in the grip of history.

A version of this article appears in print on April 20, 2012, on page B15 of the New York edition with the headline: Maybe Sox Just Aren’t Very Good. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe